Photographer: Steven Rood, Valley Village, California Image Title: Small Bird In A Big World Category: Wildlife   Technical Details: Nikon D1X digital camera, Nikon AFS 80-200 f/2.8 lens with TC-14EII, ISO 160 film, 1/500 at f5.6, RAW format Location: Sepulveda Wildlife Refuge Description: Early one morning during nesting season, this duckling became separated from its family. After calling a long time, it suddenly came to the realization that it was going to have to go forward into the world on its own. Growing up in the face of adversity is never easy, for man or beast. This image captures that precipitous moment when one must decide to succeed or fail.     Since the day he could put one foot in front of the other, Steve has either had a marker, a brush or a camera in his hands -- which, to the chagrin of his parents, meant drawing on the walls, spilling paint on the carpet or filling up the fridge with film. You'd think that with this kind of inclination, a career in the arts would have come naturally.   Well, of course, that would have been too predictable. It wasn't until graduating with a degree in wildlife biology from Loyola Marymount that Steve realized his true calling was seeing the world through a set of crop marks. So after another three years of school, and another degree, this time in advertising design from Art Center College Of Design, he embarked on a lucrative career in advertising.   But after 13 years of selling things people either didn't want or already had, Steve began to see the big picture. He realized that focus groups, working weekends and dealing with people in suits was no way to go through life, at least not on a fulltime basis. So, three-and-a-half years ago, he quit his job as an Associate Creative Director and has been a freelance art director and fine art photographer ever since, which means when he isn't working on a campaign for Lexus or Apple, he's working on one of his many photo projects. He shoots in both 35mm and medium-format. Landscapes, cityscapes and wildlife are what grace his lenses the most. His work hangs in the homes of many celebrities as well as several film production companies. He's had three solo exhibitions and been involved with several group shows and is currently working on four new monographs.   Why do I take pictures? Because nothing lasts. The world around us is in a constant state of flux, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. A photograph captures a brief moment in time, a moment forever fleeting, a moment of light, shadow and shape, all coming together at the right instant to give us something worth remembering -- a memory of time and place. As we constantly move from the past into the future, our lives become filled with memories. Some capture these memories with the written word, some with a brush, and some with a photograph. So while others have artist's statements, my work revolves around a mission statement - I take the temporary and make it permanent.   Steve Rood Phone: 818-761-8203 E-mail: roodboy@earthlink.net   Return to 2003 Galleries | Return to 2003 Wildlife Gallery     Home | Contact Us | Copyright